Chapter Text
“G’night Liam.” Liam snapped back to reality by the sound of Owen’s voice.
“Wait, we’re done already?”
“Yeah. 6:30.”
“Oh dang.” He was right.
Liam pulled away from his dull brown cubicle, rubbing and adjusting his blurry sight scrambled by the pixels on his computer screen he was forced to look at for nine or so hours a day. Took a good minute, but when his vision was cleared he was met with a beautiful sunset. Pink and purple hues melted into each other, the skyline littered with buildings of different lengths and widths; mostly grey, but had just enough color to pop and make this view breathtakingly beautiful.
“Guess I lost track.” He thought. It was quite a common occurrence for Liam to get lost in his work, and all of his coworkers knew it. There would always be someone there to remind him to go home before they closed the building for the night. In fact, it was so common that his coworkers would joke about him staying overnight nearly every chance they got. But it didn’t bother Liam though. He’d play along, even.
“Right. Sorry ‘bout that.” Liam turned from the large square window back to Owen again, who was now waiting rather impatiently for the elevator.
“It’s alright man.” Owen smiled and shook his apology off. “Say, you are coming to the house party I was hosting later tonight, right? You’re the only one who hasn’t said anything..” he worryingly asked. Liam was never much of a talker as he was a workaholic, despite how tedious the work would be. Owen knew that he may as well be the only friend—family, Liam had at this point. After going no-contact while trying to make a life for himself in the Americas, Owen was there helping him every step of the way. The two greatly value their time with each other, but deep down, they both knew he couldn’t be there for Liam all the time.
“Oh yeah I-I’ll be there, yeah.” Liam quickly nodded while looking away, a sort of feigned smile on his face.
Owen saw right through that smile, but decided to ignore it anyway.
“Alright then.” Owen stepped into the elevator. “You staying up here or..” He awkwardly grinned.
“Oh yeah! Sorry!” Liam finally got up from his chair and ran towards the elevator door once he realized Owen was about to leave without him.
The elevator ride was silent, long, and tense. One wanted to say something and the other knew it. So, Owen stepped up to slice through the tension.
“…You know I’m doing this for your own good, right?”
“I know.” Liam paused, thinking about what he should say next. He knew Owen wanted the best for him and the last thing he wanted to be was ungrateful, but the thought of trying to work with anyone else had always felt slightly off to him.
“But for the longest time, it’s just been you and me, basically. We’ve been doing so well too—I’m just…not sure if I could work with someone else.”
Owen looked away, furrowing his brows with a slight frown on his face. How come he was so flexible with everything but this? He should be going out to see other people, yet doesn’t. Or maybe he can’t? The tension grew thicker than ever before, nearly impossible to cut through now.
Finally, the elevator opened.
The pair opened the front doors to the office building and were met with that cool, salty breeze they’ve come to love after spending several hours in a bland office building. With that came the other noises you’d expect to hear when living in a big city.
“Alright, my car is parked just down the street. Cya man.” Owen waved as he walked the other way, leaving Liam in front of the building.
“Bye Owen! See you tonight.” Liam waved to his friend who was now way off in the distance. Fast walker he is. But now that he’s gone, it’s time for Liam to go home, too.
He approached the red bike on the rack. The thing was a bit busted up: color had faded, tires had a few patches here and there from holes, and covered in stickers gifted to him by friends and relatives long ago, but he was able to take good care of it for all of this time. Didn’t get out of the house much, so he figured biking to and from work was a good way to passively exercise and avoid the daunting task that was driving. And in a city like this? He’d be able to bike almost anywhere and get there in an hour and a half at most. And once he mounted it, he was off.
It took a while to go uphill, but once he was able to get onto a path that wasn’t slanted, he could finally gain a constant speed.
The best part about his bike rides were the views, especially after work. After looking at an eye-killing screen all day, it was much like a pallet cleanser to take in the real, colorful scenery around him. And just like every other day, the city was as alive as ever. As the sky morphs from a light pink and yellow color to a darker blue, the lights came on one by one. He could see buildings taller than his own in the distance flickering on, the smaller ones next to him starting to glow with warm yellow lights, and on top of that were the people he’d pass by. One guy was jogging, a woman up in her apartment washing dishes, a couple of friends in their car blasting music.
It’s all what Liam loved about living in the city. Despite how overwhelming it can be sometimes, it’s always worth the views he’ll never get enough of. And most importantly, he knows he’ll never be alone. There was always something comforting about that to him.
Before he knew it he was on the Golden Gate. Admiring the ocean that expanded into the great beyond and the sun that was halfway below it.
It was perfect. Everything was perfect. Life in the Bay Area is something he’d never give up for anything in the world.
Next thing he knows he’s been flung off of his bike and met with a face full of dirt.
“Ow..what the?” Liam slowly looked up to examine his immediate surroundings. Instead of a darkening sky, the sun hung overhead, blinding and warm. He’d looked to his side and found a woman looking down at him. A candle, but she’d looked like no object he’d ever seen.
Liam’s eyes shot open at the sight of her. She was an object of course, but she’d looked like something out of an art piece you’d find at a museum. Brightly colored, almost like a children’s drawing, but done with enough precision to tell someone with experience had drawn her.
But despite her odd, vibrant look, she held her hand down towards him. To help him.
Liam took the woman’s hand and stood up, regaining his balance. Once he was on his feet again, he took in the details around him. Mainly, those who surrounded him.
On the far side of this open field stood another woman, this time a piece of moldy bread with a chunk her head taken out of her, the same spot where the mold was growing. She looked like she was straight out of a gritty cartoon, her eyes—or eye in this case, was large and yellow, the other forced shut by the mold growing on her. Her attention wasn’t on Liam however, it was taken by the sky for whatever reason.
Beside the candle was a rolled up magazine. She’d definitely seemed younger than the rest of the group, probably late teens, but she was also a piece of work. She was mainly pink, fading into a more reddish color towards the bottom, all surrounded by a bold outline. Her cover, a strawberry model, barely kept a consistent design, as if right out of a scrapbook.
The final person Liam noted was a soda bottle standing behind him. Out of everyone here he’d looked the most “normal”, but even then something was off. He kinda looked like he was made from water color; darker than the rest of the cast, and much more tired, too.
Before Liam could get a word in, a loud disembodied voice boomed from the blue sky above.
“HELLO CONTESTANTS. MY NAME IS-…sorry.”
The voice was so loud it caused the ground to shake, bringing Liam down as it did. Everyone else instinctively slapped their hands over their ears until the mysterious voice stopped.
Liam got back on his feet once again, and just as he did he was met with that same voice, this time not as loud.
“Is this better?” No response.
After blasting out everyone’s eardrums, the voice finally introduced itself.
“Hello contestants. I am your host, Airy. And welcome to this competition…called ONE.”